Harriers break into top 25 for first time
The 2001 Aggie men’s cross country team was ranked for the first time in school history and finished the season 66-9. The highest ranking it reached was 18th in the nation.
“The biggest highlight of the season was when we got ranked nationally,” said team captain Mitch Zundel. “Since the first of the year, we were on a racing high until the very end.”
Steve Prescott, who led the Aggies in three of the team’s six meets, said the unity of the team helped them succeed.
“The team unity was so awesome,” he said. “We had a blast together. That was awesome when we found out we were ranked.”
The leaders of the team were Brick Bergeson, Dusan Hlubocky, Mike Nielson, Prescott and Zundel. They trained hard together and often raced as a pack, Zundel said.
“We had five solid guys all year who kept switching for first,” he said. “The funnest part of the season was always being so close, and we got really tight towards the end.”
Prescott led in the first meet, Hlubocky in the second, Zundel led during the third meet and Bergeson led in the fourth. Nielson was never the top-finishing Aggie, but was always in the top five.
Head Coach Gregg Gensel said the runners succeeded because of their commitment to the sport.
“They had a great run during the season,” he said. “They were committed to performing and doing what it took to be prepared to race.”
Bergeson said, “We trained hard and ran together all during the summer so we knew how fast everyone could go. I think it was a great season.”
The Aggies won their first meet 3-0, defeating Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, as well as Weber State University and the University of Utah. It was the first time the Aggies had beat the Wildcats in eight years, Zundel said.
Sept. 29, the Aggies finished 26-1 at the Stanford Invitational, their highest placing ever. The team lost to its host (ranked No. 2 in the nation), but finished with five individuals in the top 25 out of 198 competitors and easily defeated the other 25 teams.
“Stanford was definitely one of the best meets,” Nielson said. “It was actually probably my worst race because it was my first one back, but it was fun because it was the first real meet. It was fun to come back.”
Nielson said he was impressed Hlubocky was such a strong competitor at the meet.
“It was good to see Dusan do so well,” Nielson said. “He beat almost all of Stanford’s team, and it’s one of the best in the nation.”
In the following meet the team finished 16-1 at the Notre Dame Invitational. Notre Dame narrowly won, but the Aggies finished with their top five in the first 15 finishers out of 146 competitors.
“Notre Dame was our best meet and probably the most exciting race I’ve ever been in because we were all running together,” Zundel said. “We all got pretty much in a pack and all ended up placing really well.”
Prescott said, “One of our best races was Notre Dame because we were running together right in front,” he said.
The Aggies easily won their home meet Oct. 12 with only two athletes breaking up their top five as they finished in the top seven of 74 runners. Only 12 seconds divided USU’s first and fifth scorers.
“They planned on racing together at the home meet,” Gensel said. “They ran and finished in a pack.”
Nielson said being in front of the home crowd helped the team finish so well.
“I love running in front of people I know because I always run faster,” Nielson said.
USU narrowly missed winning the Big West Conference Championships as it took second place to the University of California Santa Barbara (ranked 12th in the nation) 28-34, bringing its season record to 56-3.
Zundel, Prescott and Bergeson were all sick at the conference meet, Zundel said.
Four of the five leaders will be returning next season – all but Bergeson.
“I’m going to miss Brick, but that’s exciting that the rest of us are all returning,” Zundel said.
Hlubocky was the biggest surprise, according to his teammates.
“Dusan had an extra kick that I didn’t know about until I saw him race,” Prescott said.
Bergeson said, “Dusan was the surprise, as we like to call him.”
The team finished the season with a 10-6 performance at the NCAA Regional competition. Zundel said the poor finish may have been because several of them were still recovering from illnesses, but none of the athletes seemed to know what really happened.
“We kind of fell apart a bit at regionals,” Zundel said. “I don’t know what happened.”